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Title: Student Loans: Do College Students Borrow Too Much-Or Not Enough?

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2012

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Abstract: Total student loan debt rose to over $800 billion in June 2010, overtaking total credit card debt outstanding for the first time. By the time this article sees print, the continually updated Student Loan Debt Clock (at 〈http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloandebtclock.phtml〉) will show an accumulated total of roughly $1 trillion. New federal student loans for higher education amounted to $97 billion in 2009–2010: $66.8 billion to undergraduates and $31 billion to graduate students. Borrowing to finance educational expenditures has been increasing—more than quadrupling in real dollars since the early 1990s— as shown in Figure 1. The sheer magnitude of these figures has led to increased public commentary on the level of student borrowing.

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Authors: Avery, Christopher; Turner, Sarah

Periodical (Full): Journal of Economic Perspectives

Issue: 1

Volume: 26

Pages: 165-192

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education, Other

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